Day Tours in Florence and Rome

Have you been to Rome before? Are you interested in visiting any of the ancient sites? I really enjoyed the Borghese Gallery, fantastic Bernini sculptures and Caraveggio paintings. I went while on a RS tour and had the fantastic Francisca Caruso as our guide, the RS Rome guidebook has her contact information, if you want to see if she is available. When you say Vatican do you mean the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel? I have to say I was disappointed with Vatican Museum; it was hot and stuffy, horribly crowded, and difficult to view things easily. Same with the Chapel…very chaotic. If it is a must do, go for one of the before hours tours, lots of different ones are offered.

The Vatican Museums offer early-access tours that get you into the museums and Sistine Chapel before the regular opening hours. The Museums and Chapel tend to be really unpleasantly mobbed during the regular entry period.

Some Vatican-offered tours have in-person guides; for others you'd be on your own, but there's an audioguide available at extra cost. Private companies like Walks of Italy also offer early-access tours that are more expensive than the Vatican's. Online Vatican regular-entry tickets (especially) and tours sell out far in advance for much of the year. Even in the depths of winter, online tickets will not be available if you wait too late. Check your dates here:

Vatican Museum website

In the past, tickets for tours have been put on sale earlier than the plain-vanilla entry tickets.

One and a half days in Rome is a painfully short. I'd think long and hard about whether I wanted to spend a significant chunk of that limited time in the crowded Vatican Museums unless I could get tickets for an early-access tour. There's no substitute for St. Peter's (separate location with no entry charge) and the Vatican Museums from the religious standpoint, but if your primary interest would be the art, the Borghese Gallery is an option worth considering. These tickets also sell out in advance, but conditions in the Gallery are much more pleasant than in the overcrowded Batican Museums. The Borghese Gallery is a 2-hour visit.

Rome is full of beautiful churches, most of them free and without the very long security line you'll have to wait in at St. Peter's if you aren't able to use the door connecting the basilica to the Sistine Chapel.

You haven't told us your sightseeing interests: Ancient Rome? Religious Rome? Art? The atmosphere/markets/etc.? Food?

For Rome. I echo get the prime experience tour. Starts at 7:30 and makes it easy. It’s about 90 min only then you have breakfast. Cause you have so little time you can then move on

We revisited the Vatican after the tour

For the Ufizzi we did the same. Booked the tickets and did not think about the tour. We hired a private guide for 160. Was the best money we spent. Reach out if you want the name

Heaps to do in Florence. Or if you want to get out you can visit Sienna, San Gimingano and Montiriggoni. We hired a driver for the day tour. Cost us under 400 and really worth it.

Good luck with your trip.

Thanks so much for your great suggestions. I was in Rome many years ago - touring the Vatican while my best friend was having a baby a few doors down the street at a hospital. Kind of crazy. I did get to tour then, too, but it was very long ago, and I'm kind of starting over. I love history and culture. I will be there briefly as a stop between a few other places, and hopefully will return again. You have good suggestions. I'll definitely look into the early morning tours and trying to get a good guide. I definitely get more out of art museums with a teacher/guide. I've had some good ones. Thanks again.